Even without Justice, there’s no place like home for Wyomissing in the football playoffs.
Playing without game-breaking running back Justice Hardy, Wyomissing rolled to a 31-0 victory over visiting East Pennsboro Saturday afternoon in a District 3 Class 4A quarterfinal game to remain unbeaten at home in the postseason.
Danny Fleischood filled in for the injured Hardy and matched his regular-season total of two touchdowns as the second-seeded Spartans (9-2) dominated the seventh-seeded Panthers (8-4).
Fleischood scored on a 34-yard run with two minutes left in the first half, then scored again from 4 yards out within the first two minutes of the third quarter to give Wyomissing a 21-0 lead.
“With Justice out I definitely knew I was going to have to step up more, take his spot and just fill his role,” Fleischood said. “We all did a pretty good job as a team collectively today.”
Fleischood also had to move from safety to cornerback for a Wyomissing defense that throttled East Pennsboro the entire game. The Panthers were limited to 111 yards of offense and six first downs. East Pennsboro never got inside the Wyomissing 25.
“I thought that was our best game,” said Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum.
The Spartans dominated on offense as well without attempting a pass. Derek Macrina rushed for 119 yards on 11 carries to lead a ball-control offense that racked up 363 yards on the ground on 57 carries.
Chase Eisenhower ran for 78 yards and opened the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run on Wyomissing’s first possession.
After the Wyomissing defense stopped East Pennsboro on downs at the Wyomissing 27 on the game’s initial drive, the Spartans took over. Eisenhower carried six times for 63 yards on the Spartans’ seven-play, 73-yard drive.
Wyomissing maintained a 7-0 lead until late in the first half. After a punt return by Macrina to the East Pennsboro 34, Wyomissing took possession with only 2:08 left and just one timeout remaining in the first half.
Fleischood scored on the first play, breaking a run to the outside and following his blockers to the end zone.
“Our blocks on that play couldn’t get much better,” said Fleischood, who rushed for 61 yards on six carries.
Wyomissing held East Pennsboro without a first down in the second half. After Fleischood’s second TD, the Spartans closed out the scoring on a 31-yard field goal by Keegan Maher in the third quarter and a 19-yard run by Daniel Delp on a fourth-down play with 18 seconds left.
The victory will keep the Spartans at home for the semifinals. West York, a 5-3 winner over Eastern York on Friday, will play at Wyomissing Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We’ve never lost a playoff game here,” Wolfrum said. “I like Saturday games.”
Brian Rippey is a freelance writer
Wyomissing 31, East Pennsboro 0
East Pennsboro 0 0 0 0 – 0
Wyomissing 7 7 10 7 – 31
Scoring
W — Eisenhower 20 run (Maher kick)
W — Fleischood 34 run (Maher kick)
W — Fleischood 4 run (Maher kick)
W — Maher 31 FG
W — D. Delp 19 run (Maher kick)
Statistics
EP Wyo
First downs 6 19
Rushes-yards 25-82 57-363
Passing yards 29 0
Passes 7-11-1 0-0-0
Punts-Avg. 4-25 1-36
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 2-10 3-20
Individual statistics
Rushing – East Pennsboro, Gossard 13-50, Angelo 9-33, Swidler 1-15, Bruhn 1-1, Team 1-(-17). Wyomissing, Macrina 11-119, Eisenhower 10-78, Niedrowski 16-72, Fleischood 6-61, D. Delp 2-23, Westwood 1-9, Sierra 4-6, Lopez-Sanchez 1-4, C. Delp 1-1, Armistead 1-(-1), White 3-(-4), Lecher 1-(-5).
Passing – East Pennsboro, Barlup 7-11-1–29.
Receiving – East Pennsboro, Gossard 3-8, Keys 2-4, Good 1-13, Angelo 1-4.
Interception – Wyomissing, Armistead.
Source: Berkshire mont